Calvin Klein Boytoy Nick Gruber: “I’m Not Gay”

First it was Andre Leon Talley, now model/porn star/fashion muse Nick Gruber telling us he’s actually not a friend of Dorothy. In an interview with New York magazine, Calvin Klein’s on-again/off-again paramour announces ““I’m not gay, but I don’t believe in labels, I believe in love. ”

It wasn’t Gruber’s first time at the all-man corrall, as the profile reveals:

But Fort Riley, Kansas, where he was stationed, became a perilous place for him. “I mean, basically what happened was that the gay community—” he pauses to adjust. His sexuality is clearly undefined, even to him (he’s also dated women and tells me, “I plan to have a child when I’m 30 years old”). “I’m not gay, but I don’t believe in labels, I believe in love. So the gay community in Fort Riley, Kansas, was really bad”—he means this in the sense that it was dangerous to be gay there. “A lot of people, they would get beat up, or you’ll be sleeping in a bunk and the next thing you know your roommate could come over and smash your head in, and no one really knows about it,” he says.

When rumors came out about him, “They just said, ‘You have to leave for your safety.’ ” He was discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Eventually Gruber made his way to New York and the loving, luxe arms of one of America’s foremost designers. After Gruber got messed up with drugs and fights, though, Calvin kicked him to the curb. Then followed a stint in rehab, canoodling with a girl for the paps, dating John Luciano (nephew of Mob legend Lucky Luciano) and other things destined for a future episode of Where are They Now?

The magazine posits that Klein and Gruber aren’t currently together–despite stories of a romantic getaway to Mexico. But it sounds like Nick has still come away with some good memories: “I wanted to come here, like, you know, to finally get a good education, understand the whole world, how the world works,” he says. “And I’m very fortunate that I did come here. I’ve learned so much in such a short span.”